Thread: clean out an old blade with deep black stains is it possible?

Hi SRP,

Since a while I'm thinking a way to clean some old blades with deep rust marks. I tried with 300 grit of sandpaper but not satisfied with the result.

Actually I live in an Small apartment with no balcony, neither garage. So I don't want to buy a wet grinder machine. I don't have any place to keep it. So I was wondering if there a way to grind a blade by using only dremel with the head stuff which I don't know yet ( not these stone heads or to abrasive sandpaper stuffs, I already tried them and they destroy the blade and can not go further with less abrasive ones because they don't exist for Dremel). Or any possibility to put sand papers on Dremel to grind a blade to give it a new look?

Anyone tried this kind of thing before? I'm thinking on that and as an amateur, I'd like to find a way because with Dremel I know I can go slowly and decrease the work faults.

I'll appreciate any idea

I'm not an expert restorer, but ......... I've used dremels and they don't go slow. Aside from that, if any of these black stains are at the bevel you should hone the razors until you are past the black corrosion and on to good steel. Saying that if it is too deep at the bevel you may be wasting your time. With deep rust the edge will start to fall apart, looking like Swiss cheese.

It would be really best if you could post photos of what you have.

Steel wool works to take off a lot of gunk. It requires great amounts of elbow grease and as the end nears a little mothers works well too. It may take a little more elbow grease than you have patience for.

Pictures of how bad the blades are would help provide a good approach. I've tried steel wool, and have never been satisfied with the results. Get an assortment pack of sand paper. Really, really bad blades I start at 80 grit.

I wonder if you got the cotton buffing wheels and charged them with a high grit paste, like the black, how that would work. Rather than putting them on a strop, the buffing wheel might be the balance you are seeking.

Pitting has to be sanded by hand or with a drum and Dremel, Use a Variable speed, at the slowest speed and a flex shaft for best control and comfort.

Or Greaseless, which is messy and takes a bit of an investment.

Hand sanding is the other alternative, will take time but can be done. Sometimes, you just have to live with some pitting.

The greaseless are too expensive. I don't think to buy in soon time. But as you adviced, mi already tried with 80 grit of sandpaper even with 40, they can't erase the deep marks. That's why I thought to use Dremel.

Originally Posted by Oustoura

The greaseless are too expensive. I don't think to buy in soon time. But as you adviced, mi already tried with 80 grit of sandpaper even with 40, they can't erase the deep marks. That's why I thought to use Dremel.

If you can't get the job done with 40 grit then you need to post pictures so we can see what your dealing with. Sounds like you have a real rust bucket. Is the blade hollow ground?

The important thing to remember - it is not the pits you are removing - it's all the material surrounding them. Low grit paper will work - it's a question of whether you hand and fingers will give up before you get the result you want. Also, about using a Dremel - unless you have somewhere to work and secure the blade, Dremels can be very difficult to use, dangerous and very quickly ruin a blade.

Lets see some pictures.

Originally Posted by UKRob

The important thing to remember - it is not the pits you are removing - it's all the material surrounding them. Low grit paper will work - it's a question of whether you hand and fingers will give up before you get the result you want. Also, about using a Dremel - unless you have somewhere to work and secure the blade, Dremels can be very difficult to use, dangerous and very quickly ruin a blade.

Lets see some pictures.

exactly. i want to do some sort of grinding to remove pits on the metal but do this with a dremel?



here a pic for an exemple (the pits doesn't seem so much beause of the day light but i assure you it's worse than picture). i don't think to work on this blade because i want to keep it like that (respect of its age) but i have one or two blade i would like to get them better looking.


so i was just wondering to use a dremel to remove some of the metal surface and make it plate than polish. the problem is dremel doesn't have any head gadget to do it from start to finish (i know they have some abrasive wheels but those are too heavy and only 40 or 80 grit not further, that doesn't let me to continue for have a fine polish)